Misting Times for Glass Terrarium?

[mikehauschild1]

Hey all - curious to know what you think the best misting settings should be for my glass terrarium. So far I've been misting every 3 hours for about 1 minute, between the hours of 7am and 9pm. I haven't been able to keep the humidity above 30% unfortunately. I also haver a schefflera tree in there too.

Dimensions of the cage are 6 feet tall by 3.5 feet wide on the corners (it's a triangle-like corner cage, but with 5 sides).

I was using a cool mist humidifier (constantly on) which keeps the humidity above 80%, but I have to think there's a better option, especially since I've heard that they can be a fire hazard.

What would you suggest the misting times be changed to? Any other suggestions?

 

[Sticktongue]

Is the only place you're reading the humidity over there by the heat lamp? If so, try getting a reading on the other side and the middle part of the cage. Your heat lamp will dry things up right underneath it.

 

[mikehauschild1]

Yes the only place I've been taking a reading was under the heat lamp. Thanks for the advice, will do.

 

[MatthewGregory]

Try putting at least one long misting a day. A lot of people do a 5 or 1p minute mist in the morning

 

[Chris Anderson]

With glass enclosures you need to be careful about misting for as long of a period as you do in screen enclosures because of drainage issues. That said, because of the increased humidity retention, you generally do not need to offer as much water as you do in screen enclosures because the chameleons do not lose as much to the drier external environment. I mist my glass terrariums once a day for a minute and a half, but this is a much larger terrarium than mine are, and it will also vary by ambient conditions. I too would recommend getting a reading elsewhere in the cage. I would also gauge the misting time by how wet the enclosure gets at each misting, making sure the cage dries out between mistings and you don't have any wetness building up.

Chris

 

[Carlton]

With glass enclosures you need to be careful about misting for as long of a period as you do in screen enclosures because of drainage issues. That said, because of the increased humidity retention, you generally do not need to offer as much water as you do in screen enclosures because the chameleons do not lose as much to the drier external environment. I mist my glass terrariums once a day for a minute and a half, but this is a much larger terrarium than mine are, and it will also vary by ambient conditions. I too would recommend getting a reading elsewhere in the cage. I would also gauge the misting time by how wet the enclosure gets at each misting, making sure the cage dries out between mistings and you don't have any wetness building up.

Chris

Couldn't have said it any better Chris!

 

[Ilike4hornedchams]

Honestly you can probably do without the cool air humidifier,
glass terrariums naturally keep in humidity very well. I mist my Exo Terra Medium Extra Tall about 5 times a day for 25 seconds each time (This is keeping humidity around 85% for my quad female in there). I am thinking about cutting that down to 3 times a day for a minute each time though so fewer longer mistings seems to be the way to go.